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Gordon's avatar

I'm writing from Ecuador, where I have lived for the last 13 years. I speak Spanish well, and know a lot of people here. Let me add some other risks that potential immigrants face, assuming they are successful in entering the US and working. There is at least a 50% chance, based on what I have seen, that their wife will divorce them, or at least find another man to live with. And even though wages in the US are much higher, so is the cost of living. $30,000 per year in wages probably won't leave enough to send back and support their family any better than when they lived there. Assuming that $1,000 in Mexico, or anywhere in Latin America, is equivalent to $1,000 in the US is simply a false assumption.

I will note that here in Ecuador, which uses the US$ as its official currency, making comparisons easy, it is common to find a family of four living comfortably on less than $1,000 per month. When people here read that in the US they could earn $15/hr, they think in terms of what that would buy them here. I try to explain that it is a false comparison.

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David T's avatar

Simple comment: Not low enough!

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